A Trio of Bunny Books

There are 3 sweet and totally different bunny (NOT Easter) books heading to a location near you.  Bunny Days by Tao Nyeu (author/illustrator of Wonder Bear,) is my favorite.  This picture book is divided into three stories, Muddy Bunnies, Dusty Bunnies and Bunny Tails.  The stories are unexpected (bunnies in a washing machine?!) and each story is illustrated using a different color palette.  See a 30 second taste of Muddy Bunnies on Amazon’s website.

Sweet Dreams Lullaby by Betsy E. Snyder is a bedtime lullaby that starts:  “The day is done, it’s time for bed.  Let peaceful moments fill your head. so cuddle up and snuggle in, and let your happy dreams begin.” 

And finally, Wee Little Bunny illustrated by John Butler is a great toddler read about a bunny’s adventures.

These three books would make a great bunny-themed family storytime!

A Good Mystery

The Mystery Writers of America has announced the nominees for the 2010 Edgar Awards.  The juvenile nominees are:  The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett; The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michale D. Biel; Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn; Creepy Crawly Crime, a graphic novel by Aaron Reynolds; and The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer.

The YA nominees are:  Reality Check by Peter Abrahams; If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney; The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford; Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low; Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell.

We have multiple copies of all of these titles except Petronella.  Maybe it’s time for a juvenile and YA mystery display!

Twilight for Tweens

It can be difficult to find books for younger kids who have read or want to read the Twilight series and want something similar.  I’m working on a booklist, not sure if it will be print or online, but in the meantime, check out this SLJ article on the subject.  Any additional suggestions?

JD Salinger

JD Salinger died today.  I see two copies of Catcher in the Rye in the SEL collection and Meg will be looking at our holdings of all of his titles and ordering more as needed.  If you’re looking for something especially Salinger-esque to recommend to patrons waiting for Catcher, Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You by Peter Cameron is a YA novel that is very reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye.

Booklists

The graded kids booklists have been replaced by the author and series based lists that work for a broader age range.  I know there has been some patron confusion about this when patrons look for the older grade-based lists.   Of course, each reader is different and these are just rough guidelines.  The idea with the broader age range lists is that kids will be able to find something on the list within their reading level and won’t feel stigmatized if they’re not reading books from their grade leveled list.  Also, publisher and review journals review books for age ranges, not specific grade levels/ages, so we are just following their lead.  I’m happy to talk to any patrons who are upset about this change.

For your information, here is the list of booklists that are up to date and in print and the approximate age range they are aimed at.

Caldecott winners

Newbery winners

YRCA winners

Books for Babies & Toddlers (under 3)

Books for Preschoolers (3-5 age range)

Beginning Readers (5-7)

Next Step: Chapter Books (6-8)

Tween Reads (ages 8-12)

Middle School Reads (middle school)

Teen Reads bookmark (high school)

Just the Good Stuff bookmark (high school)

Lists in progress:

Vampire Reads for Tweens (ages 8-12)

Christian Fiction for Tweens (ages 8-12)

Please let me know if you have feedback on the lists and especially if you would like an age or grade range displayed prominently on the lists (when they’re reprinted.) Any booklists that have not been updated in the past 2 years should be recycled.  Please let me know if you think a list needs to be updated and reprinted.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Trailer!

Check out the trailer for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie here.  It looks really good.  Full disclosure:  I still haven’t read a wimpy kid book, which is really unforgivable since it would probably take all of 30 minutes to read.  So tell me, does it seem faithful to the book?

The Mysterious Howling

I read the ARC of The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood this past weekend.  It is the first book in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series and will be published in February.  I loved this book and it was a perfect follow-up to all of the serious Mock Newbery reading I’d been doing.  It’s set in the past in England.  15 year old Miss Lumley, proud graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, arrives at Ashton Place to be a governess to three children.  These are no ordinary children, they’ve literally been raised by wolves and it is Miss Lumley’s job to get these kids civilized by the big Christmas party.  And if she doesn’t?  Will they be sent to an orphanage?  Released back into the woods?  Miss Lumley doesn’t want to find out.

This book was great fun.  The writing reminded me of Lemony Snicket, with the author speaking directly to the reader without dumbing down the writing.  Example:  As you may have already had cause to discover, a statement can be both completely true and completely misleading at the same time.  This is called “selective truth telling,” and it is frequently used in political campaigns, toy advertisements, and other forms of propaganda. (p. 167.)

The author, Maryrose Wood, has written YA novels, but this is her first children’s book.  I will be looking forward to the rest of the series!

Children’s Books and the Haiti Earthquake

Check out this list of books and websites to help kids understand the Haitian earthquake.  FVRL owns almost all of the books.

And the REAL Winners Are:

The big children’s book awards were announced yesterday.  I spent this morning checking FVRL’s holdings and ordering additional copies of some of the titles.  I think there were only two juvenile titles that we didn’t already own, and they were not for the more popular awards, and they are now on order.  They may not show up in the catalog until this afternoon, after ACQ gets them ordered and in the catalog.

While I was underwhelmed by When You Reach Me, it was a crowd favorite and it’s liked by kids, so I’m not displeased that it won.  I would have like to see Grace Lin get it for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, but I’m glad she got an honor.  I was also happy to see Homer P Figg get some love, I really enjoyed that humorous historical fiction novelas well as Calpurnia Tate. I haven’t cracked Claudette yet, but it was also a well-loved Newbery contender. Likewise, Pinkney’s Caldecott winner is not a surprise and I was happy to see Red Sings From Treetops get an honor.  (The poetry is also beautiful in that.  I see some of our branches have labeled it as a concept book, which I don’t really think it is.) Graphic novel readers published by Toon Books won a Geisel honor as well as the Geisel medal, which made me happy that we have these in the readers section and not the jgn section.  I’m surprised but happy to see Almost Astronauts get the Sibert, which means four of the eight titles we read for the Mock Newbery ended up getting some sort of recognition from the ALA Media Awards.  I was also happy to see Charles and Emma received two YALSA awards, it’s one of the only YA books I read this year, and I really enjoyed it.

I’m going to paste the list of winners here as posted on SLJ’s Heavy Medal Blog:

Newbery

WHEN YOU REACH ME

Honors:

CLAUDETTE COLVIN
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON
THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG

Caldecott

THE LION & THE MOUSE
Honors:

ALL THE WORLD
RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS

Geisel

BENNY AND PENNY IN THE BIG NO-NO
Honors
I SPY FLY GUY
LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY
MOUSE AND MOLE: FINE FEATHERED FRIEND
PEARL AND WAGNER

Carnegie

DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS

Sibert

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS
Honors:

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS
MOONSHOT
CLAUDETTE COLVIN

Arbuthnot

LOIS LOWRY

Batchelder

A FARAWAY ISLAND
Honors:

BIG WOLF AND LITTLE WOLF
EIDI
MORIBITO II

Pura Belpre

RETURN TO SENDER (author)
Honors:

DIEGO
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA

BOOK FIESTA (illustrator)
Honors:
DIEGO
MY ABUELITA
GRACIAS THANKS

Odyssey

LOUISE, THE ADVENTURES OF A CHICKEN

IN THE BELLY OF THE BLOODHOUND
PEACE, LOCOMOTION
WE ARE THE SHIP

Printz

GOING BOVINE
Honors:

CHARLES AND EMMA
THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST
PUNKZILLA
TALES FROM THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND

YALSA Nonfiction

CHARLES AND EMMA

Morris

FLASH BURNOUT

Edwards

JIM MURPHY

Coretta Scott King

WALTER DEAN MYERS (lifetime achievement)
THE ROCK AND THE RIVER (new talent)

MY PEOPLE (illustrator)

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS

BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS (author)

MARE’S WAR

Schneider

DJANGO (picture book)
ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL (middle grade)
MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD (teen)

Alex

TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
STITCHES
SOULLESS
MY ABANDONMENT
THE MAGICIANS
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE GOOD SOLDIERS
EVERYTHING MATTERS!
THE BRIDE’S FAREWELL
THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND

Historical Fiction Award Winner

The winner of the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction is The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan.  It is the first graphic novel to ever win the O’Dell Award.  FVRL owns seven copies in the JGN section and six are currently on the shelf. Branches who have these sitting on the shelf should pull them and put them on display as an award winner.